Marin Republican Party launches effort to attract more voters by supporting same-sex marriage

In hopes of broadening its appeal, the Marin County Republican Central Committee voted Thursday night to throw its support behind same-sex marriage, becoming the first Republican county central committee in the nation to do so.

Along with the position on gay marriage, the 23-member committee voted its support for developing a two- to three-year plan for revitalizing the Republican Party in Marin. The plan includes addressing hot-button local issues "including, but not limited to, Plan Bay Area and pension reform."

"We recognized that we were not providing Marin voters with a viable choice at the polls, and we looked at ways to begin correcting that perception," said Kevin Krick of Fairfax, the committee's chairman.

Krick said local party members began strategizing when they returned from the Republican Party's state convention in March.

"Over the last couple months, we've been analyzing the data and looking at it from a purely quantitative standpoint," Krick said. "We tried to base our decisions on facts not feelings, like any company would do. We asked ourselves, 'What is it that we can do here to improve our product.'"

Fred Schein of Mill Valley, a gay member of Marin's Republican central committee, said, "I believe it was the right thing to do."

Schein, who serves as president of the Log Cabin Republican Club of San Francisco, an organization that represents gay and lesbian conservatives and their allies, said while the Washington, D.C. Republican Committee was the first Republican central committee in the country to endorse same-sex marriage, Marin is the first county central committee to do so.

Shein said "it's kind of fun" being a gay Republican "because no one takes you casually." Shein said he is constantly being asked about his choice of political affiliation.

"I do not see any inconsistency or incongruity; but many people do," Shein said.

Krick said personal freedom, including the right to choose whom you marry, is a core tenet of Republican philosophy. As for another hot-button social issue, abortion, Krick said the Marin Republican Party has no stated position on that.

David McCuan, a Sonoma State University associate professor of political science, said, "If Republicans in California are going to have any hope of moving out of the shadows and becoming relevant at some level, they're going to have to make changes like this."

McCuan said in recent years the number of voters who decline to state party preference has grown as the number of voters who register as Republican has declined. In Marin, 34,933 registered voters decline to state a party preference while only 27,600 are registered as Republicans. More than 54 percent of the county's 152,270 registered voters, 82,758 individuals, are registered as Democrats. Statewide, Democrats hold large majorities in the state Assembly and Senate.

McCuan said pension reform is a smart issue for Marin Republicans to focus on in their bid for new supporters.

"Pension reform in localities throughout the state is a huge issue, and that's a winner for them," he said.

But McCuan was less enthusiastic about Marin Republicans' opportunity to pick up local votes by campaigning against Plan Bay Area, a regional plan that seeks to promote the development of new, affordable housing along transportation corridors and near mass transit to reduce greenhouse gas production.

"That tends to be more about the United Nations running the world and the black helicopter crowd," McCuan said, "so that is not as helpful."

Krick said Republican committees in all nine Bay Area counties affected by Plan Bay Area have come out against it, and Marin Republicans intend to formulate an alternative approach for dealing with greenhouse gas emissions and other problems addressed by the plan.